Born on Wednesday, 18th February – Famous Birthdays
On this day, 143 notable people were born on 18th February — spanning from 1201 to 2002. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.
Wednesday, 18th February marks the birth of several notable figures across sport, entertainment and science throughout history. Among those born on this date, Italian footballer Roberto Baggio arrived in 1967, becoming one of the sport’s most celebrated players with a career spanning two decades at top European clubs. In more recent times, Manu Bhaker, the Indian sports shooter born in 2002, has established herself as a leading competitive marksman on the international stage.
The date has seen the emergence of talent in various disciplines. Giacomo Raspadori, an Italian footballer born in 2000, represents the newer generation of professional athletes reaching prominence through European leagues. Historical figures born on 18th February include Alessandro Volta, the Italian physicist born in 1745 who invented the battery, fundamentally advancing electrical science. English inventor Harry Brearley, born in 1871, developed stainless steel, a material that transformed manufacturing and everyday objects worldwide.
Entertainment and arts have also contributed significantly to the list of notable 18th February births. American actress Molly Ringwald was born in 1968, gaining recognition through prominent film roles during the 1980s. British television personality Vanna White, born in 1957, became widely recognised through her long association with a major American game show, whilst John Travolta, born in 1954, established himself as a significant film and music performer.
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18/02/2002
Manu Bhaker, Indian sports shooter
Manu Bhaker is an Indian sport shooter. She has 2 medals at the Olympic Games, 23 medals at the World Championships and World Cups, as well as 12 medals at the Asian Games and Asian Championships. At the 2024 Olympics, she became the first Indian woman shooter to win a medal by clinching the bronze in the 10m pistol event. She won another bronze in 10m pistol mixed team, becoming the first Indian to win two medals in a single Olympic Games. Bhaker is also the youngest Indian to win gold medals at the World Cup.
18/02/2001
Tanguy Coulibaly, French footballer
Tanguy Bemin Coulibaly is a French professional footballer who plays as a winger for Turkish Süper Lig club Samsunspor.
Jaime Jaquez Jr., American basketball player
Jaime Jaquez Jr. is a Mexican-American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins. During his senior season in 2023, he was recognized as a consensus second-team All-American and was named the Pac-12 Player of the Year. Over the course of his collegiate career, Jaquez was selected three times to the All-Pac-12 team, including two first-team honors, and was twice named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team. He was selected by the Miami Heat with the 18th overall pick in the first round of the 2023 NBA draft. Jaquez is also known by the nickname "Juan Wick," which reflects his Mexican heritage and a perceived resemblance to the character John Wick.
18/02/2000
Zakaria Aboukhlal, Moroccan footballer
Zakaria Aboukhlal is a professional footballer who plays as right winger for Italian Serie A club Torino. Born in the Netherlands, he plays for the Morocco national team.
Giacomo Raspadori, Italian footballer
Giacomo Raspadori is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Atalanta and the Italy national team.
18/02/1998
Vernon, South Korean and American rapper, singer and songwriter
Hansol Vernon Chwe, known mononymously as Vernon (Korean: 버논), is a South Korean and American rapper, singer and songwriter. Managed by Pledis Entertainment, he is a member of the South Korean boy band Seventeen and its hip hop team.
18/02/1997
DK, South Korean singer
Lee Seok-min, known professionally as Dokyeom (도겸) or DK, is a South Korean singer. Managed by Pledis Entertainment he is a member of the South Korean boy band Seventeen, its vocal team, and is the leader of its subunit BSS with Hoshi and Seungkwan.
Odysseas Adam, Greek volleyball player
Odysseas Adam is a Greek volleyball player, a member of the club Foinikas Syros.
18/02/1996
Tyler Dorsey, American-Greek basketball player
Tyler Quincy Dorsey is a Greek-American professional basketball player for Olympiacos of the Greek Basket League and the EuroLeague. He is also a member of the Greek national basketball team. He plays at the shooting guard position. After graduating from Maranatha High School, in Pasadena, California, he played college basketball for the Oregon Ducks.
18/02/1995
Nathan Aké, Dutch footballer
Nathan Benjamin Aké is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or left-back for Premier League club Manchester City and the Netherlands national team.
18/02/1994
J-Hope, South Korean rapper, singer-songwriter, dancer, and record producer
Jung Ho-seok, known professionally as J-Hope, is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, dancer, and record producer. He made his debut as a member of South Korean boy band BTS in 2013, under Big Hit Entertainment. J-Hope released his first solo mixtape, Hope World, in 2018. It was received positively by critics and peaked at number 38 on the US Billboard 200, the highest-charting album by a Korean solo artist at the time. He became the first member of BTS to enter the Billboard Hot 100 as a soloist in 2019, when his single "Chicken Noodle Soup", featuring singer Becky G, debuted at number 81. In 2022, J-Hope released his debut studio album Jack in the Box. In 2023, he released his single "On the Street" with J. Cole.
Paul Zipser, German basketball player
Paul Victor Louis Zipser is a German professional basketball player for MLP Academics Heidelberg of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL). Standing at 2.03 m, he mainly plays at the small forward position. He was selected by the Chicago Bulls with the 48th overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft.
18/02/1993
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, American basketball player
Kentavious Tannell Caldwell-Pope, also known by his initials KCP, is an American professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was named a McDonald's All-American as one of the top high school basketball players in the class of 2011. He played college basketball for two years with the Georgia Bulldogs in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and was voted the SEC Player of the Year as a sophomore in 2013.
18/02/1992
Le'Veon Bell, American football player
Le'Veon Andrew Bell Sr. is an American professional boxer and former football running back. He played college football for the Michigan State Spartans and was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the second round of the 2013 NFL draft. Bell also played for the New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Martin Marinčin, Slovak ice hockey player
Martin Marinčin is a Slovak professional ice hockey player who is a defenceman for HC Oceláři Třinec of the Czech Extraliga (ELH). He was drafted in the second round, 46th overall, by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2010 NHL entry draft.
Logan Miller, American actor
Logan Miller is an American actor. He is known for starring in the Disney XD sitcom I'm in the Band (2009–2011) and for voicing Sam Alexander / Nova in the animated series Ultimate Spider-Man (2012–2017) and Johnny in the Disney Channel and Disney XD animated series Phineas and Ferb (2010–2014). In films, he has starred in Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015), A Dog's Purpose (2017), Love, Simon (2018), Escape Room (2019), and Escape Room: Tournament of Champions (2021).
18/02/1991
Sebastian Neumann, German footballer
Sebastian Neumann is a German football coach, official and a former defender. He is the sporting director of Würzburger Kickers.
18/02/1990
Monica Aksamit, American saber fencer
Monica Aksamit is an American former Olympic saber fencer. She represented the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics, earning a bronze medal in the Women's Saber Team competition. She won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2019 Pan American Games. In 2022, she was a contestant on Fox’s dating and relationship reality television series revival, Joe Millionaire: For Richer or Poorer.
Didi Gregorius, Dutch baseball player
Mariekson Julius "Didi" Gregorius is a Curaçaoan professional baseball shortstop for the Algodoneros de Unión Laguna of the Mexican League. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds, Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Yankees, and Philadelphia Phillies.
Cody Hodgson, Canadian ice hockey player
Cody Douglas Hodgson is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player in the National Hockey League (NHL).
Bryan Oviedo, Costa Rican footballer
Bryan Josué Oviedo Jiménez is a Costa Rican professional footballer who plays as a left-back or left midfielder for the Costa Rica national team.
18/02/1989
Sonja Vasić, Serbian basketball player
Sonja Vasić is a Serbian former professional women's basketball player. Standing at 1.89 m, she played at the small forward position. She represented the Serbia women's national basketball team, and is a current member of the FIBA Central Board.
18/02/1988
Roman Neustädter, German-Russian footballer
Roman Petrovich Neustädter is a professional footballer who plays for Belgian First Division A club Westerlo.
Sarah Sutherland, American actress
Sarah Jude Sutherland is an American actress known for her role as Catherine Meyer in Veep.
Maiara Walsh, American-Brazilian actress
Maiara Walsh is a Brazilian-American actress and singer. She played Ana Solis on the sixth season of the ABC show Desperate Housewives, Meena Paroom on the Disney Channel sitcom Cory in the House and Simone Sinclair on the Freeform series Switched at Birth. She also portrayed Vicky Patterson in the film Identity Theft of a Cheerleader by Lifetime and Mandi Weatherly in the film Mean Girls 2 on Freeform.
18/02/1986
Kyle Weaver, American basketball player
Kyle Donovan Weaver is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for Washington State University, and was drafted 38th overall by the Charlotte Bobcats in the 2008 NBA draft. Weaver, a 6-foot-6-inch (1.98 m) shooting guard-small forward, was born in Beloit, Wisconsin. His father, LaMont Weaver, played collegiate basketball at the University of Wisconsin.
18/02/1984
Carlos Kameni, Cameroonian footballer
Idris Carlos Kameni is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper.
18/02/1983
Kara Braxton, American basketball player (died 2026)
Kara Liana Braxton was an American professional basketball player who played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 2005 until 2014 and won two championships.
Jermaine Jenas, English footballer
Jermaine Anthony Jenas is an English television presenter, football commentator and former professional footballer. He played as a central midfielder for English club sides Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, and Queens Park Rangers, scoring a career total of 39 goals from 341 league appearances. He also appeared 21 times for the senior England national football team, scoring one goal.
Jason Maxiell, American basketball player
Jason Dior Maxiell is an American former professional basketball player best known for his tenure with the Detroit Pistons from 2005 to 2013. He currently serves as an assistant coach for the Stockton Kings of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the University of Cincinnati and professionally in the NBA, China, and Turkey before retiring on August 4, 2017.
18/02/1982
Christian Tiffert, German footballer
Christian Tiffert is a German football manager and a former midfielder. He was most recently the manager of Chemnitzer FC.
18/02/1981
Andrei Kirilenko, Russian-American basketball player
Andrei Gennadyevich Kirilenko, nicknamed AK-47, is a Russian basketball executive and former professional basketball player. He played 10 seasons for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA) between 2001 and 2011.
Alex Ríos, American baseball player
Alexis Israel Ríos is an American former professional baseball right fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, and Kansas City Royals. A World Series champion with the Royals in 2015, Rios is a two-time MLB All-Star. In 2007, he was a Fielding Bible Award winner for right fielders. In 2013, he hit for the cycle and achieved six hits in one game. Rios is a three-time World Baseball Classic participant with the Puerto Rico national baseball team.
18/02/1980
Nik Antropov, Kazakhstani-Canadian ice hockey player
Nikolai Alexandrovich Antropov is a Kazakh-Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Atlanta Thrashers and Winnipeg Jets. He received Canadian citizenship in May 2007. Internationally Antropov played for Kazakhstan at several junior and senior tournaments, including the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Regina Spektor, Russian-American musician and songwriter
Regina Ilyinichna Spektor is a Russian-born American singer, songwriter, and pianist.
18/02/1977
Ike Barinholtz, American actor and comedian
Ike Barinholtz is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his starring roles in the comedy series MADtv (2002–2007), Eastbound & Down (2012), The Mindy Project (2012–2017), Bless the Harts (2019–2021), The Afterparty (2022), History of the World, Part II (2023), and The Studio (2025–present), the last having earned him a Critics' Choice Award, an Actor Award, and nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award.
Kristoffer Polaha, American actor
Kristoffer Polaha is an American actor. He is best known for his starring roles on television as Jason Matthews in North Shore, Nathaniel "Baze" Bazile in Life Unexpected, and Henry Butler in Ringer. He has also appeared in films Devil's Knot (2013), Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022).
18/02/1975
Gary Neville, English footballer
Gary Alexander Neville is an English football pundit and former professional player. A right-back, he spent his entire career with Manchester United, serving as captain for five years. He is one of the most decorated English and European footballers of all time, winning 20 trophies, including eight Premier League titles and two UEFA Champions League titles. In 2025, he was inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame.
18/02/1974
Carrie Ann Baade, American painter and academic
Carrie Ann Baade is an American painter whose work has been described by Curator of Contemporary Art Margaret Winslow as "autobiographical parables combin(ing) fragments of Renaissance and Baroque religious paintings, resulting in surreal landscapes inhabited by exotic flora, fauna, and figures." The context and the compositional building blocks of her work are fragments of historical masterpieces, which Baade reinterprets using her original feminist and autobiographical perspective. She currently lives in Tallahassee, Florida, where she is a professor in the Department of Art at Florida State University.
Radek Černý, Czech footballer
Radek Černý is a Czech former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played principally for Slavia Prague in the Czech First League between its inception in 1993 and 2005, when he moved to England. Černý spent eight years in England with Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers before returning to his former club Slavia in 2013, where he played one season before his retirement. Černý enjoyed a brief international career, making three appearances for the Czech Republic between 2000 and 2002.
Julia Butterfly Hill, American environmentalist and author
Julia Lorraine Hill, best known as Julia Butterfly Hill, is an American environmental activist and tax redirection advocate. She lived in a 200-foot (61 m)-tall, approximately 1,000-year-old California redwood tree for 738 days between December 10, 1997, and December 18, 1999. Hill lived in a tent near the top of a tree, affectionately known as Luna, to prevent Pacific Lumber Company loggers from cutting it down. She ultimately reached an agreement with the lumber company to save the tree. Hill is the author of the book The Legacy of Luna (2000) and co-author of One Makes the Difference.
Jillian Michaels, American personal trainer and television personality
Jillian Leigh McKarus, known professionally as Jillian Michaels, is an American fitness trainer, nutritionist, businesswoman, media personality, and author. She is best known for her appearances on NBC series such as The Biggest Loser. She has also made an appearance on the talk show The Doctors. In 2015, she hosted and co-judged a series on Spike titled Sweat, INC. In 2016, her reality television series Just Jillian premiered on E!.
18/02/1971
Thomas Bjørn, Danish golfer
Thomas Bjørn is a Danish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. He is the most successful Danish golfer to have played the game having won fifteen tournaments worldwide on the European Tour. In 1997 he also became the first Dane to qualify for a European Ryder Cup team. He captained the winning European side at the 2018 Ryder Cup.
18/02/1969
Alexander Mogilny, Russian ice hockey player
Alexander Gennadevich Mogilny is a Russian former professional ice hockey player and the current president of Amur Khabarovsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Over a 16-season career in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1989 to 2005, he played for the Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks, New Jersey Devils, and Toronto Maple Leafs.
18/02/1968
Molly Ringwald, American actress
Molly Kathleen Ringwald is an American actress, writer, and translator. She began her career as a child actress on the sitcoms Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts of Life before being nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her starring role in the drama film Tempest (1982). Ringwald became a teen idol following her lead roles in filmmaker John Hughes's teenage films Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), and Pretty in Pink (1986). These films led to the media referring to her as a member of a group of actors known as the "Brat Pack."
Tommy Tallarico, American video game music composer
Tommy Tallarico is an American video game music composer, sound designer, and television producer. Since the 1990s, his company Tommy Tallarico Studios has produced audio for many video games. He co-hosted the television series Electric Playground and Reviews on the Run from 1997 until 2006. In 2002, he created Video Games Live (VGL), a concert series featuring orchestral performances of video game music.
18/02/1967
Roberto Baggio, Italian footballer
Roberto Baggio is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a second striker, or as an attacking midfielder, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions. He is the former president of the technical sector of the Italian Football Federation. A technically gifted creative playmaker and set piece specialist, renowned for his curling free-kicks, dribbling skills, and goalscoring, Baggio is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.
Colin Jackson, Welsh sprinter and hurdler
Colin Ray Jackson, is a Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete who specialised in the 110 metres hurdles. During a career in which he represented Great Britain and Wales, he won an Olympic silver medal, became world champion twice, world indoor champion once, was undefeated at the European Championships for 12 years and was twice Commonwealth champion. His world record of 12.91 seconds for the 110 m hurdles stood for nearly 13 years and his 60 metres hurdles world record stood for nearly 27 years.
18/02/1966
Phillip DeFreitas, Dominican-English cricketer
Phillip Anthony Jason "Daffy" DeFreitas is an English former cricketer. He played county cricket for Leicestershire, Lancashire and Derbyshire, as well as appearing in 44 Test matches and 103 ODIs. Cricket writer Colin Bateman noted that "DeFreitas was an explosive hitter when the mood took him, an aggressive pace bowler, inclined to pitch everything short and a spectacular fielder". He was a part of the English squad which finished as runners-up at the 1987 Cricket World Cup and as runners-up at the 1992 Cricket World Cup.
Ryan Wesley Routh, American attempted assassin of Donald Trump
Ryan Wesley Routh is an American former roofer and activist who attempted to assassinate then-former U.S. President Donald Trump on September 15, 2024. Routh was attempting to assassinate Trump to prevent him from winning the 2024 presidential election. The incident occurred two months after Trump survived a previous assassination attempt while speaking at a campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania.
18/02/1965
Dr. Dre, American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur
Andre Romell Young, known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, record executive, and actor. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and co-founder of Death Row Records. Dre began his career as a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru in 1984, and later found fame with the gangsta rap group N.W.A, which he formed in 1987 with Eazy-E, Ice Cube and Arabian Prince. The group popularized explicit lyrics in hip-hop to detail the violence of street life. N.W.A's debut album Straight Outta Compton (1989) was one of the most successful albums in the West Coast hip-hop scene, and is often credited for the rise in popularity of gangsta rap. During the early 1990s, Dre was credited as a key figure in the crafting and popularization of West Coast G-funk, a subgenre of hip-hop characterized by a synthesizer foundation and slow, heavy production.
18/02/1964
Matt Dillon, American actor
Matthew Raymond Dillon is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including a Screen Actors Guild Award and two Independent Spirit Awards alongside nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Grammy Award.
18/02/1961
Douglas Rushkoff, American media and cultural theorist, author, and documentarian
Douglas Mark Rushkoff is an American media theorist, writer, professor, columnist, lecturer, graphic novelist, documentarian and podcaster. He is best known for his association with the early cyberpunk culture, his advocacy of open source solutions to social problems, his critique of technocapitalism, and his call to retrieve our humanity in a digital age.
18/02/1960
Andy Moog, Canadian ice hockey player
Donald Andrew Moog is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. Moog played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Edmonton Oilers, Boston Bruins, Dallas Stars and Montreal Canadiens, and also for the Canadian national team. Moog is a three-time Stanley Cup champion: 1984, 1985 and 1987. He earned the William M. Jennings Trophy in the 1989–90 NHL season for fewest total goals against the team during the regular season, sharing the trophy with his goaltending partner, Réjean Lemelin.
Greta Scacchi, Italian-Australian actress
Greta Scacchi is an actress. Born in Italy to a British-Italian couple, she was raised in Britain and finally settled in Australia, becoming a naturalized citizen.
18/02/1959
Jayne Atkinson, English-American actress
Jayne Atkinson is a British-American actress. She is best known for the role of Karen Hayes on 24, as well as her Tony Award–nominated roles in The Rainmaker and Enchanted April. She has also appeared in Criminal Minds as BAU Section Chief Erin Strauss, Madam Secretary as United States Vice President Teresa Hurst, and House of Cards as U.S. Secretary of State Catherine Durant. In films, Atkinson notably played foster mother Annie Greenwood in the Free Willy franchise.
18/02/1957
Marita Koch, German sprinter
Marita Koch is a German former sprint track and field athlete. During her career she set 16 world records in outdoor sprints as well as 14 world records in indoor events. Her record of 47.60 in the 400 metres, set on 6 October 1985, still stands.
Vanna White, American television personality
Vanna Marie White is an American television personality. She is best known as the co-host of the game show Wheel of Fortune, a position she has held since 1982. She began her career as a model while studying fashion, competing in Miss Georgia USA in 1978. In addition to her work on Wheel of Fortune, she has played minor characters or appeared as herself in many films and television series, and is the author of the 1987 autobiography Vanna Speaks. She also participates in real-estate investment, owns the yarn brand Vanna's Choice, and is a patron of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
18/02/1955
Lisa See, American writer and novelist
Lisa See is an American writer and novelist. Her books include On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family (1995), a detailed account of See's family history, and the novels Flower Net (1997), The Interior (1999), Dragon Bones (2003), Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2005), Peony in Love (2007) and Shanghai Girls (2009), which made it to the 2010 New York Times bestseller list, and The Island of Sea Women (2019). Both Shanghai Girls and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan received honorable mentions from the Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature.
18/02/1954
John Travolta, American actor, singer and producer
John Joseph Travolta is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. His accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award and three Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.
18/02/1952
Randy Crawford, American jazz and R&B singer
Veronica "Randy" Crawford is an American retired jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist. However, she has appeared on the Hot 100 singles chart twice. The first time was in 1979 as a guest vocalist on the Crusaders' top-40 hit "Street Life". She also dueted with Rick Springfield on the song "Taxi Dancing", which hit number 59 as the B-side of Springfield's hit "Bop Til You Drop". She has had five top-20 hits in the UK, including her 1980 number-two hit, "One Day I'll Fly Away", as well as six UK top-10 albums. Despite her American nationality, she won Best British Female Solo Artist in recognition of her popularity in the UK at the 1982 Brit Awards. In the late 2000s, she received her first two Grammy Award nominations.
Maurice Lucas, American basketball player (died 2010)
Maurice "Luke" Lucas was an American professional basketball player who played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a four-time NBA All-Star and won an NBA championship with the Portland Trail Blazers in 1977. He was named to the ABA All-Time Team.
Juice Newton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Juice Newton is an American pop and country singer, songwriter, and musician. Newton has received five Grammy Award nominations in the Pop and Country Best Female Vocalist categories – winning once in 1983 – as well as an ACM Award for Top New Female Artist and two consecutive Billboard Female Album Artist of the Year awards. Newton's other awards include a People's Choice Award for "Best Female Vocalist" and the Australian Music Media's "Number One International Country Artist".
18/02/1951
Queen Komal of Nepal
Komal Rajya Lakshmi Devi Shah is a member of the Nepalese royal family who was the last Queen of Nepal as the wife of King Gyanendra of Nepal until the monarchy was abolished on 28 May 2008. She is also known by the name Komal Shah.
Isabel Preysler, Filipino-Spanish journalist
María Isabel Preysler Arrastía is a Spanish and Filipino socialite and television host. She is the mother of singers Enrique Iglesias and Julio Iglesias Jr., journalist Chábeli Iglesias, Tamara Falcó, 6th Marchioness of Griñón, and Ana Boyer Preysler.
18/02/1950
Nana Amba Eyiaba I, Ghanaian queen mother and advocate
Nana Amba Eyiaba I, known non-formally as Eunice Amba Amoah, is a Ghanaian queen mother from the Effutu Municipal District of Central Region, Ghana. She is the former Director of Education for Central Region. From 2004 to 2010, Eyiaba was appointed by President John Kufuor to serve as a member of the national Electoral Commission of Ghana, co-organizing and supervising the parliamentary and presidential elections of 2004 and 2008.
John Hughes, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2009)
John Wilden Hughes Jr. was an American filmmaker. He is best known for writing, directing, and producing the films Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), Weird Science (1985), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), and Uncle Buck (1989), in addition to writing the films Pretty in Pink (1986), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), Home Alone (1990), 101 Dalmatians (1996), and Flubber (1997).
Cybill Shepherd, American actress
Cybill Lynne Shepherd is an American actress, singer, and former model. Her film debut and breakthrough role came as Jacy Farrow in Peter Bogdanovich's coming-of-age drama The Last Picture Show (1971) alongside Jeff Bridges. She also had roles as Kelly in Elaine May's The Heartbreak Kid (1972), Betsy in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), and Nancy in Woody Allen's Alice (1990).
18/02/1947
Dennis DeYoung, American musician, singer, and songwriter
Dennis DeYoung is an American singer, songwriter and keyboardist. He was a founding member of the rock band Styx and served as its primary lead vocalist and keyboardist from 1972 until 1999. DeYoung was the band's most prolific and successful writer, having been credited as the writer of more Styx songs than any other band member. DeYoung penned seven of the band's eight Billboard top 10 singles as well as a solo top 10 single.
18/02/1946
Michael Buerk, English journalist
Michael Duncan Buerk is a British journalist and newsreader. He presented BBC News from 1973 to 2002 and has been the host of BBC Radio 4's Moral Maze since 1990. He was also the presenter of BBC One's docudrama 999 from 1992 to 2003. From 2017, Buerk also presented the TV programme Royal Recipes which ran for two series.
Jess Walton, American actress
Jess Walton is a Canadian-American actress. She is best known for her role as Kelly Harper in CBS soap opera Capitol and as Jill Abbott on the CBS soap opera, The Young and the Restless.
18/02/1944
Elizabeth Nunez, American novelist (died 2024)
Elizabeth Nunez was a Trinidadian-American novelist academic who was a Distinguished Professor of English at Hunter College, New York City.
18/02/1941
Irma Thomas, American singer-songwriter
Irma Thomas is an American singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans".
18/02/1940
Fabrizio De André, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1999)
Fabrizio Cristiano De André was an Italian singer-songwriter and the most-prominent cantautore of his time. He is also known as Faber, a nickname given by the friend Paolo Villaggio, as a reference to his liking towards Faber-Castell's pastels and pencils, aside from the assonance with his own name, and also because he was known as "il cantautore degli emarginati" or "il poeta degli sconfitti". His 40-year career reflects his interests in concept albums, literature, poetry, political protest, and French music. He is considered a prominent member of the Genoese School. He sang in both Italian and in other languages such as Genoese. Because of the success of his music in Italy and its impact on the Italian collective memory, many public places such as roads, squares, and schools in Italy are named after De André.
18/02/1939
Claude Ake, Nigerian political scientist and academic (died 1996)
Claude Ake was a Nigerian political scientist from Omoku, in Rivers State, Nigeria. Ake was considered "one of Africa's foremost political philosophers." He specialized in political economy, political theory, and development studies and is well known for his research on development and democracy in Africa. He was professor of political economy and dean of the University of Port Harcourt's Faculty of Social Sciences for some years in the 1970s and 1980s after having taught at Columbia University, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1966. He held various academic positions at institutions around the world, including at Yale University, University of Nairobi (Kenya), University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and University of Port Harcourt (Nigeria). He was active in Nigerian politics, a critic of corruption and authoritarian rule in Africa. His permanent home was in Port Harcourt.
18/02/1936
Jean M. Auel, American author
Jean Marie Auel is an American writer who wrote the Earth's Children books, a series of novels set in prehistoric Europe that explores human activities during this time, and touches on the interactions of Cro-Magnon people with Neanderthals. Her books have sold more than 45 million copies worldwide.
18/02/1934
Audre Lorde, American writer and activist (died 1992)
Audre Lorde was an American writer, professor, philosopher, intersectional feminist, poet, and civil rights activist. She was a self-described "Black, lesbian, feminist, socialist, mother, warrior, poet" who dedicated her life and talents to confronting all forms of injustice and oppression. She believed that there could be "no hierarchy of oppressions" among "those who share the goals of liberation and a workable future for our children".
18/02/1933
Yoko Ono, Japanese-American multimedia artist and musician
Yoko Ono is a Japanese artist, musician, activist, and filmmaker. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.
Bobby Robson, English footballer and manager (died 2009)
Sir Robert William Robson was an English football player and coach. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich Town.
Mary Ure, Scottish-English actress (died 1975)
Eileen Mary Ure was a British actress. She was the second Scottish-born actress to be nominated for an Academy Award, for her role in the 1960 film Sons and Lovers.
18/02/1932
Miloš Forman, Czech-American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2018)
Jan Tomáš "Miloš" Forman was a Czech and American film director, screenwriter, actor, and professor. He rose to fame in his native Czechoslovakia before emigrating to the United States in 1968. Over a career spanning six decades, Forman won two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Golden Bear, a César Award, and the Czech Lion.
18/02/1931
Johnny Hart, American cartoonist, co-created The Wizard of Id (died 2007)
John Lewis Hart was an American cartoonist noted as the creator of the comic strips B.C. and The Wizard of Id. Brant Parker co-produced and illustrated The Wizard of Id. Hart was recognized with several awards, including the Swedish Adamson Award and five from the National Cartoonists Society. In his later years, he was known for incorporating Christian themes and messages into his strips and seeming to denigrate other religions. Hart was referred to by Chuck Colson in a Breakpoint column as "the most widely read Christian of our time", over C. S. Lewis, Frank E. Peretti, and Billy Graham.
Toni Morrison, American novelist and editor, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2019).
Chloe Anthony Wofford "Toni" Morrison was an American novelist and editor. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed Song of Solomon (1977) brought her national attention and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 1988, Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved (1987).
18/02/1929
Len Deighton, English historian and author (died 2026)
Leonard Cyril Deighton was a British author. His publications included cookery books and works on history, but he was best known for his spy novels.
André Mathieu, Canadian pianist and composer (died 1968)
André Mathieu was a Canadian pianist and composer.
18/02/1927
Fazal Mahmood, Pakistani cricketer (died 2005)
Fazal Mahmood PP, HI was a Pakistani international cricketer. He played in 34 Test matches and took 139 wickets at a bowling average of 24.70. The first Pakistani to pass 100 wickets, he reached the landmark in his 22nd match.
18/02/1926
Wallace Berman, American painter and illustrator (died 1976)
Wallace "Wally" Berman was an American experimental filmmaker, assemblage, and collage artist and a crucial figure in postwar California art.
18/02/1925
George Kennedy, American actor (died 2016)
George Harris Kennedy Jr. was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 film and television productions. He played "Dragline" in Cool Hand Luke (1967), winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role and being nominated for the corresponding Golden Globe. He received a second Golden Globe nomination for portraying Joe Patroni in Airport (1970).
18/02/1922
Eric Gairy, Grenadan politician, 1st Prime Minister of Grenada (died 1997)
Sir Eric Matthew Gairy PC was the first Prime Minister of Grenada, serving from his country's independence in 1974 until his overthrow in a coup by Maurice Bishop in 1979. Gairy also served as head of government in pre-independence Grenada as Chief Minister from 1961 to 1962 and as Premier from 1967 to 1974.
Helen Gurley Brown, American journalist and author (died 2012)
Helen Gurley Brown was an American author, publisher, and businesswoman. She was the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine for 32 years.
Connie Wisniewski, American baseball player (died 1995)
Constance Wisniewski was a starting pitcher and outfielder who played from 1944 through 1952 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Listed at 5' 8", 147 lb., she batted left-handed and threw right-handed.
18/02/1921
Mary Amdur, American toxicologist and public health researcher (died 1998)
Mary Ochsenhirt Amdur was an American toxicologist and public health researcher who worked primarily on pollution. She was charged with studying the effects of the 1948 Donora smog, specifically looking into the effects of inhaling sulfuric acid by experimenting on guinea pigs. Her findings on the respiratory effects related to sulfuric acid led to her being threatened, her funding being pulled, and her losing her job at the Harvard School of Public Health in 1953. Undeterred, she carried on her research in a different role at Harvard, and subsequently at MIT and New York University. Despite the early controversy related to her work, it was used in the creation of standards in air pollution, and towards the end of her life she received numerous awards and accolades.
Oscar Feltsman, Ukrainian-Russian pianist and composer (died 2013)
Oscar Borisovich Feltsman was a Ukrainian-born composer.
18/02/1920
Rolande Falcinelli, French organist, pianist, composer, and pedagogue (died 2006)
Rolande Roberte Ginabat-Falcinelli was a French organist, pianist, composer, and music educator.
18/02/1919
Jack Palance, American boxer and actor (died 2006)
Walter Jack Palance was an American actor, known to film audiences for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his roles in Sudden Fear (1952) and Shane (1953), and winning almost 40 years later for City Slickers (1991).
18/02/1915
Phyllis Calvert, English actress (died 2002)
Phyllis Hannah Murray-Hill, known professionally as Phyllis Calvert, was an English actress. She was one of the leading stars of the Gainsborough melodramas of the 1940s such as The Man in Grey (1943) and was one of the most popular movie stars in Britain in the 1940s. She continued her acting career for another 50 years.
Joe Gordon, American baseball player and manager (died 1978)
Joseph Lowell Gordon, nicknamed "Flash", in reference to the comic-book character Flash Gordon, was an American second baseman, coach and manager in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians from 1938 to 1950. He was posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009.
18/02/1914
Pee Wee King, American singer-songwriter and fiddler (died 2000)
Julius Frank Anthony Kuczynski, known professionally as Pee Wee King, was an American country music songwriter and recording artist best known for co-writing "Tennessee Waltz".
18/02/1909
Wallace Stegner, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (died 1993)
Wallace Earle Stegner was an American novelist, writer, environmentalist, and historian. He was often called "The Dean of Western Writers". He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 and the U.S. National Book Award in 1977.
18/02/1906
Hans Asperger, Austrian pediatrician and academic (died 1980)
Johann Friedrich Karl Asperger was an Austrian physician. Noted for his early studies on atypical neurology, specifically in children, he is the namesake of the autism spectrum disorder, Asperger syndrome. He wrote more than 300 publications on psychological disorders that posthumously acquired international renown in the 1980s. His diagnosis of autism, which he termed "autistic psychopathy", garnered controversy.
18/02/1903
Nikolai Podgorny, Ukrainian engineer and politician (died 1983)
Nikolai Viktorovich Podgorny was a Soviet statesman who served as the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the head of state of the Soviet Union, from 1965 to 1977.
18/02/1899
Arthur Bryant, English historian and journalist (died 1985)
Sir Arthur Wynne Morgan Bryant, was an English historian, columnist for The Illustrated London News and man of affairs. His books included studies of Samuel Pepys, accounts of English eighteenth- and nineteenth-century history, and a life of George V. He moved in high government circles, where his works were influential, writing histories of three prime ministers: Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee, and Harold Wilson.
18/02/1898
Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rican poet and politician, 1st Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (died 1980)
José Luis Alberto Muñoz Marín, most commonly known as Luis Muñoz Marín, was a Puerto Rican journalist, politician, and statesman who served as the first democratically elected governor of Puerto Rico from 1949 to 1965. He previously served as the fourth president of the Senate of Puerto Rico from 1941 to 1948.
18/02/1896
Li Linsi, Chinese educator and diplomat (died 1970)
Li Linsi, born Li Jiaxiang (厉家祥), was a Chinese educator, diplomat, and scholar who has been recognized as one of the key figures in modern Chinese cultural and diplomatic history. Hailed as China's Mahatma Gandhi, Li was the leader of China's nonviolent resistance against Japanese aggression. His military research contributed to China in the Second Sino-Japanese War. He was known for his efforts to save hundreds of Jews fleeing to Shanghai during World War II. A diplomatic consultant to Chiang Kai-shek, Li was a key facilitator of the China–Germany relationship during the 1930s, and a major proponent of China's League of Nations diplomacy.
18/02/1893
Maksim Haretski, Belarusian prose writer, journalist and activist (died 1938)
Maksim Haretski, also known as Maksim Harecki and Maksim Goretsky, was a Belarusian prose writer, journalist, activist of the Belarusian national renewal, folklorist, lexicographer, and professor. Maksim Harecki was also known by his pen-names Maksim Biełarus, M.B. Biełarus, M.H., A. Mścisłaŭski, Dzied Kuźma, Maciej Myška, and Mizeryjus Monus. In his works he often appeared as Kuźma Batura, Liavon Zaduma.
18/02/1892
Wendell Willkie, American captain, lawyer, and politician (died 1944)
Wendell Lewis Willkie was an American lawyer, corporate executive and the 1940 Republican nominee for president of the United States. Willkie appealed to many convention delegates as the Republican field's only interventionist: although the U.S. remained neutral prior to Pearl Harbor, he favored greater U.S. involvement in World War II to support Britain and other Allies. His Democratic opponent, incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had made campaign pledges against U.S. involvement in World War II, won the 1940 election with about 55% of the popular vote and took the electoral college vote by a wide margin.
18/02/1890
Edward Arnold, American actor (died 1956)
Günther Edward Arnold Schneider was an American actor of the stage and screen.
Adolphe Menjou, American actor (died 1963)
Adolphe Jean Menjou [/'ædɒlf 'mɒnʒuː/] was an American actor whose career spanned both silent films and talkies. He became a leading man during the 1920s, known for his debonair and sophisticated screen presence. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Front Page (1931).
18/02/1885
Henri Laurens, French sculptor and illustrator (died 1954)
Henri Laurens was a French sculptor and illustrator.
18/02/1883
Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek philosopher, author, and playwright (died 1957)
Nikos Kazantzakis was a Greek writer, journalist, politician, poet and philosopher. Widely considered a giant of modern Greek literature, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in nine different years, and remains the most translated Greek author worldwide.
18/02/1871
Harry Brearley, English inventor (died 1948)
Harry Brearley was an English metallurgist, credited with the discovery of "rustless steel". Based in Sheffield, he enabled affordable cutlery for the masses, and an expansion of the city's traditional cutlery trade.
18/02/1867
Hedwig Courths-Mahler, German writer (died 1950)
Hedwig Courths-Mahler, née Ernestine Friederike Elisabeth Mahler was a German writer of formula fiction romantic novels. She used the pseudonyms Relham, H. Brand, Gonda Haack and Rose Bernd.
18/02/1862
Charles M. Schwab, American businessman, co-founded Bethlehem Steel (died 1939)
Charles Michael Schwab was an American steel magnate. Under his leadership, Bethlehem Steel became the second-largest steel maker in the United States, and one of the most important heavy manufacturers in the world.
18/02/1860
Anders Zorn, Swedish artist (died 1920)
Anders Leonard Zorn was a Swedish artist who attained international success as a painter, sculptor, and etching artist. His portrait subjects include King Oscar II of Sweden and four American Presidents: Grover Cleveland, William H. Taft,Theodore Roosevelt,and Even the king of England,King George VI,end of his life in 1920, he established the Swedish literary Bellman Prize.
18/02/1855
Jean Jules Jusserand, French historian, author, and diplomat, French Ambassador to the United States (died 1932)
Jean Adrien Antoine Jules Jusserand was a French author and diplomat. He was the French Ambassador to the United States from 1903 to 1925 and played a major diplomatic role during World War I.
18/02/1850
George Henschel, German-English singer-songwriter, pianist, and conductor (died 1934)
Sir Isidor George Henschel was a German-born British baritone, pianist, conductor, composer and academic teacher. First trained as a pianist, he was a concert singer who sometimes sang to his own accompaniment. He was a close friend of Johannes Brahms. His first wife Lillian was also a singer. He was the first conductor of both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He taught at the Institute of Musical Art in New York City.
18/02/1849
Alexander Kielland, Norwegian author, playwright, and politician (died 1906)
Alexander Lange Kielland was a Norwegian realistic writer of the 19th century. He is one of the so-called "The Four Greats" of Norwegian literature, along with Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Jonas Lie.
18/02/1848
Louis Comfort Tiffany, American stained glass artist (died 1933)
Louis Comfort Tiffany was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in art glass, especially stained glass and Favrile glass. He is associated with the art nouveau and aesthetic art movements. He was affiliated with a prestigious collaborative of designers known as the Associated Artists, which included Lockwood de Forest, Candace Wheeler, and Samuel Colman. Tiffany designed stained glass windows and lamps, glass mosaics, blown glass such as vases, ceramics, jewelry, enamels, and metalwork. Glass work by Tiffany Studios is known as Tiffany glass. He was the first design director at his family company, Tiffany & Co., founded by his father Charles Lewis Tiffany.
18/02/1838
Ernst Mach, Austrian physicist and philosopher (died 1916)
Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach was an Austrian-Czech physicist and philosopher who contributed to the understanding of the physics of shock waves. The ratio of the speed of a flow or object to that of sound is named the Mach number in his honor. As a philosopher of science, he was a major influence on logical positivism and American pragmatism. Through his criticism of Isaac Newton's theories of space and time, he foreshadowed Albert Einstein's theory of relativity.
18/02/1836
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Indian mystic and yogi (died 1886)
Ramakrishna, also called Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, born Ramakrishna Chattopadhyay, was an Indian Hindu mystic. He was a devotee of the goddess Kali, but adhered to various religious practices from the Hindu traditions of Vaishnavism, Tantric Shaktism, and Advaita Vedanta, as well as Christianity and Sufi Islam. His parable-based teachings advocated the essential unity of religions and proclaimed that world religions are "so many paths to reach one and the same goal". He is regarded by his followers as an avatar.
18/02/1818
John O'Shanassy, Irish-Australian politician, 2nd Premier of Victoria (died 1883)
Sir John O'Shanassy, KCMG, was an Irish-Australian politician who served as the 2nd Premier of Victoria. O'Shanassy was born near Thurles in County Tipperary, Ireland, the son of a surveyor, and came to the Port Phillip District in 1839. He went into business in Melbourne as a draper, and by 1846 he was rich enough to be elected to the Melbourne City Council and to become the founding chairman of the Colonial Bank of Australasia. By the 1850s he was a major landowner and one of the wealthiest men in the colony. He also became a recognised leader of the large Irish Catholic community.
Konstanty Schmidt-Ciążyński, Polish collector and art connoisseur who donated a large collection to the National Museum in Kraków (died 1889)
Konstanty Aleksander Wiktor Schmidt-Ciążyński was a Polish collector and art connoisseur, who donated a large collection to the National Museum in Kraków.
18/02/1817
Lewis Armistead, American general (died 1863)
Lewis Addison Armistead was a career United States Army officer who became a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. On July 3, 1863, as part of Pickett's Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg, Armistead led his brigade to the farthest point reached by Confederate forces during the charge, a point now referred to as the high-water mark of the Confederacy. However, he and his men were overwhelmed, and he was wounded and captured by Union troops. He died in a field hospital two days later.
18/02/1754
Emanuel Granberg, Finnish church painter (died 1797)
Emanuel Granberg (1754–1797) was a Finnish painter.
18/02/1745
Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist, invented the battery (died 1827)
Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta was an Italian chemist and physicist who was a pioneer of electricity and power, and is credited as the inventor of the electric battery and the discoverer of methane. He invented the voltaic pile in 1799, and reported the results of his experiments in a two-part letter to the president of the Royal Society, which was published in 1800. With this invention, Volta proved that electricity could be generated chemically and debunked the prevalent theory that electricity was generated solely by living beings. Volta's invention sparked a great amount of scientific excitement and led others to conduct similar experiments, which eventually led to the development of the field of electrochemistry.
18/02/1732
Johann Christian Kittel, German organist and composer (died 1809)
Johann Christian Kittel was a German organist, composer, and teacher. He was one of the last students of Johann Sebastian Bach. His students included Michael Gotthard Fischer, Karl Gottlieb Umbreit, Johann Wilhelm Hässler and Christian Heinrich Rinck. See: List of music students by teacher: K to M#Johann Christian Kittel.
18/02/1658
Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre, French philosopher and author (died 1743)
Charles-Irénée Castel, abbé de Saint-Pierre was a French writer.
18/02/1642
Marie Champmeslé, French actress (died 1698)
Marie Champmeslé was a French stage actress.
18/02/1632
Giovanni Battista Vitali, Italian violinist and composer (died 1692)
Giovanni Battista Vitali was an Italian composer and violone player.
18/02/1626
Francesco Redi, Italian physician (died 1697)
Francesco Redi was an Italian physician, naturalist, biologist, and poet. He is referred to as the "founder of experimental biology", and as the "father of modern parasitology". He was the first person to challenge the theory of spontaneous generation by demonstrating that maggots come from eggs of flies.
18/02/1609
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, English historian and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (died 1674)
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon was an English statesman, lawyer, diplomat and historian who served as chief adviser to Charles I during the First English Civil War, and Lord Chancellor to Charles II from 1660 to 1667.
18/02/1602
Per Brahe the Younger, Swedish soldier and politician, Governor-General of Finland (died 1680)
Count Per Brahe the Younger was a Swedish soldier, statesman, and writer. He served as Privy Councillor from 1630, Lord High Steward from 1640, as well as Governor-General of Finland in 1637–1640 and 1648–1654.
Michelangelo Cerquozzi, Italian painter (died 1660)
Michelangelo Cerquozzi, known as Michelangelo delle Battaglie was an Italian Baroque painter known for his genre scenes, battle pictures, small religious and mythological works and still lifes. His genre scenes were influenced by the work of the Flemish and Dutch genre artists referred to as the Bamboccianti active in Rome who created small cabinet paintings and prints of the everyday life of the lower classes in Rome and its countryside. One of the leading battle painters active in Italy in the first half of the 17th century, Michelangelo Cerquozzi earned the nickname 'Michelangelo delle Battaglie'.
18/02/1589
Henry Vane the Elder, English politician (died 1655)
Sir Henry Vane, known as the Elder to distinguish him from his son, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1654. He served King Charles in many posts including secretary of state, but on the outbreak of the English Civil War joined the Parliamentary cause. He was the third cousin of Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland.
Maarten Gerritsz Vries, Dutch explorer (died 1646)
Maarten Gerritszoon Vries or Fries, also referred to as de Vries, was a 17th-century Dutch cartographer and explorer, the first Western European to leave an account of his visit to Ezo, Sakhalin, Kuril Islands and the Sea of Okhotsk.
18/02/1559
Isaac Casaubon, Swiss philologist and scholar (died 1614)
Isaac Casaubon was a classical scholar and philologist, first in France and then later in England.
18/02/1547
Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī, founder of Isfahan School of Islamic Philosophy (died 1621)
Baha al-Din al-Amili, commonly known as Sheikh Bahāʾī, was a Twelver Shia Muslim scholar and polymath in Safavid Iran, who composed various works in Arabic and Persian. Closely tied to the court of Shah Abbas I, he became known for his role in the intellectual sphere of Isfahan and is seen as a leading figure in his field, with seventy-seven scholars counted among his students.
18/02/1543
Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (died 1608)
Charles III, known as the Great, was Duke of Lorraine from 1545 until his death.
18/02/1530
Uesugi Kenshin, Japanese daimyō (died 1578)
Nagao Kagetora , later known as Uesugi Kenshin , was a Japanese daimyō (magnate). He was born in Nagao clan, and after adoption into the Uesugi clan, ruled Echigo Province in the Sengoku period of Japan. He was one of the most powerful daimyō of the Sengoku period. Known as the "Dragon of Echigo", while chiefly remembered for his prowess on the battlefield as a military genius and war hero, Kenshin is also regarded as an extremely skillful administrator who fostered the growth of local industries and trade, as his rule saw a marked rise in the standard of living of Echigo.
18/02/1516
Mary I of England (died 1558)
Mary I, also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous attempts to reverse the English Reformation, which had begun during the reign of her father, King Henry VIII. Her attempt to restore to the Church the property confiscated in the previous two reigns was largely thwarted by Parliament but, during her five-year reign, more than 280 religious dissenters were burned at the stake, in what became known as the Marian persecutions, leading later commentators to label her "Bloody Mary".
18/02/1486
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Indian monk and saint (died 1534)
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, born Vishvambhara Mishra, was an Indian Hindu saint from Bengal and the founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mode of worshipping Krishna with bhajan-kirtan and dance influenced Vaishnavism in Bengal.
18/02/1372
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Egyptian jurist and scholar (died 1448)
Ibn Hajar al Asqalani ., or simply ibn Ḥajar, was a classic Islamic scholar "whose life work constitutes the final summation of the science of hadith." He authored some 150 works on hadith, history, biography, exegesis, poetry, and the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence, the most valued of which being his commentary of Sahih al-Bukhari, titled Fath al-Bari. He is known by the honorific epithets Hafiz al-Asr, Shaykh al-Islam, and Amir al-Mu'minin fi al-Hadith.
18/02/1201
Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Persian scientist and writer (died 1274)
Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Ṭūsī, also known as Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī or simply as (al-)Tusi, was a Persian polymath, architect, philosopher, physician, scientist, and theologian. Nasir al-Din al-Tusi was a well published author, writing on subjects of math, engineering, prose, and mysticism. Additionally, al-Tusi made several scientific advancements. In astronomy, al-Tusi created very accurate tables of planetary motion, an updated planetary model, and critiques of Ptolemaic astronomy. He also made strides in logic, mathematics but especially trigonometry, biology, and chemistry. Nasir al-Din al-Tusi left behind a great legacy as well. Tusi is widely regarded as one of the greatest scientists of medieval Islam, since he is often considered the creator of trigonometry as a mathematical discipline in its own right. The Muslim scholar Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) considered Tusi to be the greatest of the later Persian scholars. There is also reason to believe that he may have influenced Copernican heliocentrism.